Mall Santa
by AgentOfAngst
Summary: Donald has a hard time affording the Christmas his young nephews dream. Day ten of my twelve days of Christmas challenge


**Day 10, ducktales style!**

"Dewey!" Donald snapped frantically at the little troublemaker, snatching him by the life jacket before the five year old could leap off the side of the boat.

"Please just stay on the boat." He pleaded.

"I wanna go swim." Dewey groaned.

"It's too cold to swim. We'll swim later." Donald said, head swiveling, desperately trying to spot the other boys. Huey was on the roof again, to Donald's distress, toting his binoculars and his Junior Woodchuck guidebook.

"HUEY GET DOWN FROM THERE THIS INSTANT." Donald bellowed, keeping a grip on Dewey as he gawked up at his oldest nephew.

"AND BE CAREFUL." Other houseboat neighbors were waking to the sound of screeching and pulling pillows over their heads to ignore their most hated neighbor. If ever he were a popular fellow, taking care of his three nephews had destroyed that.

"You don't have to yell I can hear you okay from the roof." Huey retorted as he carefully climbed down.

"You aren't supposed to be on the roof!" Donald picked both boys up by the backs of their life jackets like they were totebags and began to search for the youngest.

"Where's your brother?" He asked, clearly stressed out.

"We dunno." Dewey said with an eyeroll.

"Don't roll your eyes at me " Donald scolded.

"Can you set us down?" Huey asked quietly.

"Not until I find Louie."

"He's probably in our room." Huey said, more helpful when he knew that the faster Louie was found the faster he could maybe get back to research on the roof. Donald walked through the little houseboat to test that theory. It was correct. Louie was lounging in bed idly spinning the wheels on his toy truck, still in his pajamas.

"Louie get dressed I told you to be ready an hour ago. Your brothers are up, why aren't you?" He asked in exasperation as Louie let the truck fall to the floor in slow motion.

"If my ears didn't deceive me, Huey was on the roof and Dewey tried to go looking for Atlantis, so do you really want me to be like them?" He said smoothly, taking his own time to sit up and slide out of bed. Donald didn't know where that boy was going to end up, probably either jail or the way of his no good great uncle, but there was no doubt he was a smooth talker. It got him in and out of a lot of trouble here.

"Watch your attitude and hurry it up, we're headed to the mall to see Santa." Santa was free. Santa was one of the few things he could guarantee.

"To get presents?" Louie asked, finding new interest in the topic.

"Santa might have a candy cane for you if you're good."

"That doesn't sound worth it but I'll be ready in ten minutes." Donald was about to blow a gasket as the slick five year old herded them out for privacy.

"Uh, Uncle Donald, can you put us down?" Huey asked again.

"Don't you dare climb up to the roof or jump off the boat." He warned. Huey shrugged and began to flip through the guide book, reading through it casually. As for Dewey, he ran off just to run, Donald having a feeling he'd have to pay close attention to that boy at the mall. Donald had a headache and it was only nine o'clock. Weekends were for family, and the work week had stretched him thin. He just wanted to have a happy family Christmas, full of traditions and merriment. Instead, he had three disinterested kindergartners who all had something they would rather be doing.

"Alright, everyone let's head out."

"Are we buying presents?" Louie asked again.

"Not this time."

"When? Christmas is in a week."

"Don't worry about the presents, they'll be there by Christmas." He didn't know how, though. He'd find a way, by some miracle. He always delivered on a little Christmas magic. Hopefully for now Mall Santa would be enough to tide the triplets over.

"Are you guys excited?" Donald tried to hype up his nephews.

"I guess so." Huey said with a shrug, still looking for definitive proof that Santa was real.

"Are you going to make us take pictures?" Dewey grumbled.

"Of course I am."

"Can we eat in the food court?" Louie asked.

"You can all play on the mall play place afterwards," Donald answered, deflecting the question. They had plenty of food at home.

"Cool!" Now Dewey sounded excited, and Donald smiled, glad someone was. Huey shrugged, seeming indifferent, and Louie gave him a look.

"Don't be bratty, you'll have fun."

"If you say so," Louie grumbled.

"Aren't you excited to tell Santa what you want for Christmas?" He tried again.

"Not if he's just going to give me a candy cane," Louie pointed out, and Donald sighed. He wanted to cram a million and one gifts for these kiddos under the tree, but he could barely afford to window shop this year. Three kids could get pretty expensive and jobs were hard to come by when you had the temperament of a rockstar without the necessary skills to be one.

"Candy canes are good." Huey piped up, seeing how sad and tired their Uncle Donald looked.

"Yeah!" Dewey agreed, cheered immensely by the prospect of running around at the mall's indoor playground.

"I guess." Louie shrugged.

"Great, I'm glad we all agree." By that time they were almost at the mall, and everyone was at least acting happier.

Louie was the first to plop down on Santa's lap, he smiled for the photo, accepted his candy cane, and rattled off a few gifts that Donald could afford if no one ate until Valentine's day. Then Dewey hopped up and asked for like a sword, or something. Which Donald could get him, as long as it was forged from plastic, not vibranium. All the while, Huey could see his uncle kind of rub his face and sigh. So when Mall Santa-who smelled a little like mothballs, vodka, and desperation-asked him what he wanted, he replied cheerfully that he wanted new colored pencils. He didn't need anything more than that, and it made Uncle Donald smile a little.

"And what about you, old man, what do you want?" The mall Santa asked, offering Donald a candy cane.

"Old?" Donald asked, almost offended. Then he sighed.

"I just want these three little guys to be happy." Louie and Dewey, who'd been licking their candy canes, looked up at that, and each took one of Donald's hands as if to let him know they already were happy, presents or not.


End file.
